Like most gals, I like my dose of chick flicks (romantic comedy or whatever else you call it) every once in a while. And I have always liked Johnny Depp, much before he became Johnny “The Pirate” Depp. So, when the two are put together what is not to like in it, right? And yes, you are absolutely right and I loved watching Benny & Joon. Surprisingly though, I barely noticed Johnny Depp in this movie as the movie revolves around the brother-sister relationship (and aptly titled so). Aidan Quinn was just awesome as Benny and portrayed the brother to a mentally ill sister – the challenges, the hardship, the laughter – ever so beautifully. I am not sure if I related to the movie better because I have a brother and could identify with the brother-sister relationship and its nuances or the movie was just taken plainly well, I do not know. But I loved watching the movie and wondered, why we don’t see such simple, sincere and honest movies any more?

I will leave you with this song from the movie, that I just cannot seem to get out of my head – both for its lyrics and music 🙂

Till a few years back, fireworks meant Diwali or nights when India wins matches (and World cup). The first time, I got to witness the fireworks for Independence Day was at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA. There were quite a few glitches that the county ran into and the fireworks ended up being not as magnificent as they usually are and we left disappointed. Most Independence day long weekends we were too busy traveling and never got a chance to check out the awesome fireworks that the city has to offer. Last year was the first time, I saw the fireworks up close and personal and left impressed.

This year, we hiked up to Hunter’s Point to view the fireworks. Witnessing multiple fireworks happening across the Bay Area at the same time was quite an experience.

There is no better indication that Summer is FINALLY here than the abundant fruits that you see all around you. Be it the supermarket, your backyard (or a friend’s – either works) or farmer’s market – fruits galore! Back when I was growing up, Summer meant School-break (Annual leave, as we called it) and Mango – the king among fruits, at least to me. While all fruits are unique in taste, shape, size and one cannot/should not pick one over the other, Mango is on a different level all together. Anything else that you might have bit on pales in comparison when you take a first bite on this golden yellow goodness. Even the color is royal, what more can I say!

Living far away from the tropical climate, it is not easy to find Mangoes here, at least definitely not the same quality ones like you find in India, but there are so many other varieties of fruits to appease you. Plums, apricots, different berries, melons and the list can go on…

Turns out the previous owner of our house was quite a fruit person, like me. We have different kinds of fruits in our backyard that takes turn and fruits almost all around the year. So we have plums, pears, persimmons, pomegranates, sweet lime, mandarins, green almonds that bloom and fruit in that order. So, right now we have a bountiful of plums in our backyard. The weekend was spend in collecting the ripe ones, sharing with family & friends, making plum jam, guess you get the drift. So, how was your weekend and got any fruit tales to share?

Best Friend, err post… well both. This first blog post is a trip down memory lane – a long one at that – to meet my first “Best Friend”.

We all (at least most of us) have that 2 AM friend whom we call our BFF – I am always a little skeptical about the last F (forever for the uninitiated), well, that’s me – and our life is all peachy. At what point of time in life, one attaches that special significance to a friend and realizes that he/she is your best (or close) friend. The earliest memory of a best friend that I remember was when I was in elementary school and AR was my partner in crime. We were classmates from our kindergarten and would hang out (whatever that meant at that age!) together all the time. We played together, ate our lunches together, and needless to say, sat next to each other in class. We spent every single moment @ school together, and in short, all of elementary school, we were inseparable. And then, at the risk of sounding cliched, life happened.

We moved schools, lost touch, got back in touch only to lose touch again – it was a game of hide and seek. The last time I spoke to her was circa 2000/01 and after that, had no idea where she was or what she was upto. And that was till yesterday. I was chatting with a dear friend and somehow the conversation veered to my first school and not sure why, but I googled my first alma mater. To cut a long story short, thanks to the internet (google and social networking), I got back in touch with AR – my first friend and a best one at that. Living across timezones, we still managed to send each other multiple emails on what we have been upto – whom we have lost and gained in the years that went by – and other general updates on our life.

I am amazed at how much we remember of each other and how easy the conversation is and more importantly, how instant the connection was. There was a sense of warmth and genuine affection, that is hard to find otherwise, in her, just like that even though we haven’t spoken to each other properly for almost a decade and a half. Life has taken us in totally different directions than we would have ever thought of as pig-tailed kids of single digit age. Here’s hoping to not let go of her this time and keep her a click away, always!

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